Womenswear retailer Bonmarché reported a 55.3% jump in pre-tax profits to £12.4m despite a “challenging” second half of the year.
- Bonmarché profits driven by online growth and brand refresh
- Like-for-likes and revenues also jump in year ending March 28
- Bosses say retailer in a “strong” position for future growth
The results were driven by impressive online sales growth and a brand refresh, which helped increase its market share.
Like-for-like sales including online sales rose 6% for the year ending March 28, as revenues jumped 8.7% to £178.6m.
The retailer said EBITDA before exceptional items increased 13.6% to £15.5m during the period.
Bonmarché said “improvements in multichannel” drove a 36% spike in online sales and a 32% jump in call centre sales.
It added that the brand had been “refreshed” during the period to align it with “an evolving customer base”.
Bonmarché opened 29 net new stores and concessions during the year and said it also made good progress with its “store modernisation programme”.
That helped its market share grow to 4.4%, according to latest Kantar data.
Bonmarché chief executive Beth Butterwick said the results leave the retailer in a “strong” position to press ahead with its growth strategy.
Butterwick said: “I am satisfied with the current year’s performance, in a year of contrasts between a strong performance in the first half, supported by good weather, versus a more challenging second half of the year.
“Against this backdrop, we have continued to deliver improvements across the business and have achieved solid profit growth.
“The group’s financial position is sound, and we enter the new financial year with a strong balance sheet and confidence in our ongoing growth strategy.”
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